Another buggy in wheelchair space thread

[MsAR]

I got on the bus at the same time as a wheelchair user was queuing to do so. The driver told the wheelchair user there wasn't room, so I quickly checked and saw it was a buggy and a shopping trolley in the space.

The driver told the wheelchair user there would be another bus in a few minutes and they didn't seem to mind and weren't particularly insistent about getting on.

Was I being unreasonable to step in at this point and tell the driver that the person with the buggy should get off as wheelchairs have priority? He was pretty annoyed when I did, and kept repeating that there wasn't space.

I'm in London, and there are clear signs on every bus stating this is the case. I've often had to get off a bus when a wheelchair needed to get on and would never question if asked to do so.

Would it also be unreasonable for me to complain to TFL? I know I'm being a busy body but the driver's attitude really irritated me! I'd like the mumsnet jury to help me decide what to do, if anything.

Where did anyone suggest that parent and baby toilets should be converted to disability if disability toilets are available?

And personally I would rate the needs of a person with disabilities over the desire of a mother wanting a private space to change her baby, particularly if other spaces are available to her.

Lol at being tired of engaging with unpleasant people

Of course you're goading.

Beerpeep yes you ring up and start your initial claim over the phone, then they send you paperwork and invite you for an assessment. Word of warning though, it depends on how good an area, your jobcentre and which company does the assessments are.
I got placed straight in the support group of ESA without an assessment because my Medical difficulties were evident enough on paperwork sent by the GPs. I've basically got lots of huge files they'd have to sift through! . Yet i was refused PIP on the same grounds.PIP is different to ESA and you basically have to evidence how much care you need during the day for PIP IIRC.

Watch out for the pip assessment.
My assessor physically hurt me.

bitter and unpleasant

My god, it really is a losing fucking battle.

What do you teach your children? 'come on dears, elbows out, best foot forward and don't worry about that disabled person you have just trodden over'

Everyone should have to learn about disability, and equality and human rights - it's our fucking duty to learn these things and pass them on to our children. It's not 'nasty' to tell people to open their eyes wider and try to see beyond their narrow view of existence.

I think mumsnet should make it a rule that you can't join unless you have read the This Is My Child campaign, and a piece written by one of the many eloquent posters who are disabled on their experience negotiating through a thoughtless world.

DawnDonnaAgain Thankyou I would. But the stress of it all made me physically ill and it took me ages to recover. Ironic isn't it?

TheVillagePost Please read the posts at the beginning of the thread and then compare to the ones later on that you think are being nasty and unpleasant.

Infact, if you went and asked a class of preschoolers 'which would be easiest for a grown up, lifting up a baby, or lifting up another grown up?' 'Which is easier, pushing a pram or not being able to walk? I bet they'd all answer correctly, without needing a detailed and 'polite' explanation.

Since when was not experiencing something yourself an excuse to act like a twat?

Or just err go away and stop posting on the thread if it's so unpleasant

I'd never wish disability on anyone, even my worst enemy.

BUT I would like those who are so wilfully ignorant and obstinate to get just a taste of what disabled people have to go through every day and how their day can be made so much worse by such inconsideration and selfishness.

Just a few weeks would do it.

Is the point that posters on here will decide whether they should be supportive of people struggling with disabilities only if they are nice to them

Most people are supportive of people struggling with disabilities, me included. I am also supportive of people struggling with prams, crutches, screaming babies etc. And supportive of anyone being ridiculed or victimised. The poster in question admitted she lacked awareness and was then torn to shreds.

I respect people who are polite and courteous. Being rude, sarcastic and nasty will get people's backs up no matter what your circumstances.

It was the lack of awareness of an area clearly marked with a wheelchair logo being for disabled people that was jaw dropping.

Thank you MindtheCrevasse you have articulated just what I was trying to say.

bishop that's awful about your pip assessor

Yes being nasty does get people's backs up. Correctamundo

And the blaming if being young. Like all young people are ignorant. Nope.

You'd better give that to one of those desperate, on the edge parents, they obviously need it far more

What a struggle they have. For all of a couple of years.

MindTheCrevasse You only need to read the first ten pages full of the they can fold the chair/ I'm not folding and if that makes me look a twat I don't care / wheelchair users should not have priority. Because all those posts were sarcastic rude and nasty and was exactly why peoples backs were up on this thread.

Well I am afraid this thread has moved me into the pesky, get your back up camp - despite being polite and trying to inform and educate, people have clearly demonstrated they have no idea.

Unfortunately things get changed by the arsey and the irate and I am feeling more and more arsey and irate my the minute. Shit catches more flies than honey.

And thread nearly full. Good . People can stop coming and finding ever increasingly desperate semantic reasons to ignore the real issue

I didn't see my dd being nasty anywhere, just telling it like it is. If you have a buggy, move. Simples. If people hint at you at the bus stop, acknowledge their existence and their anxiety. Simples.
Accept that it is actually better to hurry if you are using a shared space and that in fact shared spaces are not ideal, just lazy planning. The person with a disability is always going to have a greater need than you.
Don't be the village idiot. Simples.

That's what they want hazey